


Lose my breath

by purplebass



Category: The Last Hours Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Angst and Feels, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27302896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplebass/pseuds/purplebass
Summary: An Halloween fic featuring Lucie and Jesse.Halloween. Yet another mundane holiday that shadowhunters celebrated. It was Matthew who had insisted, saying that he read on a newspaper that it was fun to throw parties and dress as witches, zombies, or vampires. Or ghosts. Lucie wasn’t against the idea of celebrating it, but the truth was that this day reminded her too much of someone.
Relationships: Jesse Blackthorn/Lucie Herondale
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13
Collections: Blackdale





	Lose my breath

Halloween. Yet another mundane holiday that shadowhunters celebrated. It was Matthew who had insisted, saying that he read on a newspaper that it was fun to throw parties and dress as witches, zombies, or vampires. Or _ghosts_. Lucie wasn’t against the idea of celebrating it, but the truth was that this day reminded her too much of someone. And now, as she sipped orange juice by the fire of the ballroom of the Institute, she regretted coming. Everyone seemed to be having fun, at least. Some were dancing, others were drinking light stuff. There weren’t just the youngest shadowhunters, but also their parents, which were treating the event as a simple break from every day activities and had no clue what they were celebrating.

Lucie was bored. She believed this event would have provided her with new inspiration for her story, but she had been wrong. She saw Cordelia dancing with James, and she kind of envied the couple. Even if their engagement was just a sham and James turned into a shadow sometimes, he was alive. Cordelia could still hold his hand or touch his hair.

Lucie put the empty glass on a table nearby. She was fed up with the party, and she needed a break. She didn’t want to go to her room. It would mean that she was completely done with the celebration, and she intended to go back in after a few minutes. She needed somewhere else. She thought about the drawing room, but it was on a different floor. _Right, the music room_ , she decided in the end.

No one really went to that room besides her father. Lucie couldn’t play any instrument, but she had to admit that this place was perfect to brainstorm new ideas and to hide from people. Not that she wanted to hide from anybody, in her own house, but…

Her eyes caught the violin case sitting on a table on a velvet cloth. It would be nice if she knew how to play something, but maybe not the violin. No, it seemed too hard, and she didn’t have the time. Plus, her neck was already tight because of the hours spent on her writing machine. She glanced at the grand piano, and walked towards it. Her brother James had learnt how to play it, even though he didn’t touch it anymore. Perhaps he could teach her.

Despite not being used, the piano wasn’t dusty. Lucie touched the black polished wood, then her fingers pressed two keys. She laughed, because she knew she couldn’t play anything, but decided to sit down on the soft bench in front of the piano anyway. She cleared her voice and then started intoning a typical Welsh song. It was the first song that came to her mind when she started pressing her fingers on the keys.

Lucie knew how to sing, at least. Or that was what her father often said when they sang Welsh songs together. But who cared, anyway? She was alone, completely and utterly alone. She stopped touching the piano at some point, but kept singing until the song was over. And then someone clapped.

She gasped, and turned towards the door to see who was the intruder. “Jesse?”

He smiled. “Good evening, Lucie.”

He walked towards the piano, but he didn’t get too close. Lucie craved for his presence while in the ballroom, and she didn’t mind he was keeping his distance. She already appreciated his presence. But she hoped he would cut the distance and she would be able to stare in his green eyes directly. She gazed up at him.

“There is something wrong with you, tonight,” she declared, frowning. She tilted her head and observed him from head to toe. She hoped she didn’t look weird, but she thought she wasn’t doing anything wrong.

Jesse shrugged, as if he didn’t know what to say or was bored. “That’s a nice way to greet me,” he snorted.

“I don’t think I’ve offended you,” her nose crinkled, and she rolled her eyes. “I didn’t think you were the touchy type.”

“I didn’t think you as the performer type either,” he countered, advancing until he was a few feet from her.

“You don’t know many things about me. I’m a great singer, and I’ve received a lot of compliments when I once sang in front of a crowd.”

“Your parents and your brother?” he retorted, crossing his arms on his chest.

Her mouth set in a hard line. He didn’t offend her, because it was the truth. “If it’s more than one person it’s a crowd,” she replied with bitterness.

“You weren’t tone-deaf, at least.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Your voice was silvery, Lucie.”

Lucie tried to keep her face neutral, but she wanted to smile. “See, it doesn’t cost much to be nice,” she said, pressing her lips together.

She heard Jesse’s footsteps, and he sat down next to her on the bench before she could object. He hadn’t asked if he could do it, but she didn’t mind. They were alone, and she also believed they were comfortable around each other. Why was she thinking about all of this now? Jesse was sitting by her side! She stared at him. He was staring at the piano before them.

“You may have a nice voice,” he began, turning his head to focus on her, “but you don’t know how to play.”

There it was again. The snark. “Can you refrain from commenting on my skills for five minutes?”

“It’s not about your skills. It’s facts.”

She sighed and scowled at him. “I may not know how to play an instrument, but the question is: do you?”

“Of course, I do,” he replied with a smirk. “I may not have lived much time, but I definitely know how to play.”

Lucie rolled her eyes. “I’m glad for you,” her lips drew back in a snarl, and she looked away.

“Want me to teach you a simple song?”

“What?” she didn’t mean to be loud, but her voice rose an octave when she uttered the question. She covered her mouth quickly, and glanced at him. He was grinning. “Okay,” she agreed.

He seemed satisfied of her answer. “Put your hands on these keys,” he pointed at them, and Lucie obeyed. “Now press this and then this for five times.”

She didn’t know if she would do it right, but she tried. He explained her which keys she should press, and how much, for how many times. After a few minutes of practice, she could finally hear some progress. It wasn’t perfect, but it was there. There was just a point where she always mistook the keys. “I never get this right,” she lamented with a pout.

“Want to do it with me?” he asked her, and she nodded, believing that they would do it on their own side of the keyboard. So, when Jesse put his hands on hers, she shivered. Her heart started racing as he adjusted his bigger hands on her dainty ones. Strangely, they were warm. They tried the melody once, twice, and she kept on making the same mistake. She didn’t know if he knew that she was on edge because he was almost holding her hands. He had been nothing but patient with her, and had tried to give her good advice on how to avoid the mistakes she was making.

The third time they tried, something went wrong. As they moved their hands on the keys, someone decided it was time to come and watch the performance.

“By the angel!” Lucie screamed, and grabbed Jesse’s arm as a small spider came out of one of the keys.

Once it went away, she glanced at her hand clutched on his white shirt. He was staring at her, with an unreadable expression on his face. She didn’t know what expression she was displaying, but she thought she must seem scared.

“Lucie,” he murmured.

“Yes?”

“Can I kiss you?”

She instantly sobered up. She knew the answer to that question, yet she waited a few seconds before nodding her head and accepting his request.

Jesse placed his hand behind her neck and guided her face towards his, until their lips met. Lucie didn’t know what to do, since she had never been kissed, and she let him guide her through it all, until she understood what to do. He wasn’t imposing. On the other hand, he was gentle, and he was giving her time to adjust. Lucie thought his lips were soft, and she would have kept on tasting them if she hadn’t been out of air.

She panted for a moment, and sighed. He was panting as well – but wasn’t he dead?!

Her head shot up and she started at him, obviously astonished. Her eyes went wide as saucers, and she stilled. She had just kissed Jesse. How? Although the light in the music room wasn’t splendid, she realized what was different about him tonight. His sleeves weren’t rolled up at the elbow.

 _Impossible_.

“Jesse, but, you –“

“I thought you’d never notice, Lucie.”

“How? How are you… how can I touch you? I thought that you…”

“I have no idea. And I don’t know how long it will last,” he said, as the clock on the wall struck midnight.

Lucie jumped at the sudden sound, and glared at the grandfather clock for having interrupted their moment. Once he turned to Jesse, her jaw dropped. “Jesse, you –“ she pointed at him, or what was left of him.

He looked at himself then. His face didn’t change, but Lucie saw his lip quiver before he schooled his expression back to his melancholic self. “Guess we have our answer.”

“I’m sorry, Jesse,” Lucie replied, and she was truly touched.

He stood up from the bench, or better, he went through it. Lucie stood as well. “I reckon it is time for me to leave.”

“You can stay if you want,” she offered, but she could see the defeat in his eyes. He wanted to go.

He managed a smile. “You have to go back to your celebration.”

“I don’t have to go back to anything.”

“Well, I had a long _day_. Goodnight, Lucie,” Jesse said, and she didn’t understand what he meant with that. She was about to ask him, but he had already disappeared into thin air, leaving her alone with herself once again.

She had taken a long break from the party, but she didn’t wish to go back to the ballroom. So, she went back to the bench and practiced the song he taught her until she got it right.


End file.
